A, F, St, V, N – Huh?

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to get something posted on our blog. Over the weekend I was wondering what I could possible write about and it hit me, I could blog about the apple of love AKA the tomato.

Most of us are getting our favorite seed catalogs in the mail right now and starting to select what we are going to grow this season. Last year I had an issue with, what I think, was either early blight or verticillium wilt – not sure yet. Besides rotating where we are going to grow the plants this year I made it a point to select tomato varieties that have been developed for disease resistance. You may have letters listed on a seed packet and not know what they stand for. These letters represent what disease that the the plant is resistant too:

A – Alternaria stem canker

F – Fusarium wilt

FF – Fusarium races 1 & 2

FFF – Fusarium races 1, 2, & 3

N – Nematoes

T – Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)

St – Stemphylium gray leaf spot

V – Verticillium wilt

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential issues that a tomato can have. A word of caution: resistant does not mean the plant is immune to a disease. Under high disease pressure they can become infected. I would also like to point that last year in the Omaha metro we had a rotten tomato year (no pun intended). High heat and other environmental issues caused tomatoes to perform poorly.

Remember to rotate your crop, use mulch around the plants, and keep the foliage dry you can reduce the chances of diseases occurring. If you have questions about what might be going on. Check out these publications for more information.

Leaf and Fruit Diseases of Tomatoes: https://goo.gl/edR4fb

Tomato Variety for Late Blight Resistance: https://goo.gl/XqzuwZ

Tomato Diseases & Disorders: https://goo.gl/pM24qC

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Scott Evans is a horticulture assistant with Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties. A certified arborist through International Society of Arboirculture and Nebraska Arborist Association. Scott is also Tree Risk Assessment Qualified through ISA. Scott co-leads the Master Gardener program in Douglas & Sarpy counties. Along with volunteer management he provides his expertise with disease and insect identification, lawn and landscape weed management, plant health, and I.P.M. practices. He also enjoys growing many houseplants ranging from African violets to cacti and succulents. Scott has two Bachelors of Science, one in Biology (emphasis in Botany, Ecology and Environmental Science) and second in Environmental Geology from Northwest Missouri State University. He earned his Master of Agriculture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.